Faceless
by Zonadow
Summary: Starscream comes back from a terrible accident that kills Breakdown and Megatron goes too far in his punishment. Knockout confides in Soundwave, and one thing happens after another...(TF:P, Romance, KnockoutxSoundwave, info inside)
1. The Late Commander Starscream

_This fic is based in the Prime universe. I have not seen any season past season 1 but I do know that Breakdown at some point dies, so I figured I'd do my own take on it. This will be a romance, with a non-con scene on the first chapter and some character deaths throughout. I don't know how long it will be. I haven't written in a long while, so I hope I'm not too rusty.  
_

**Fanfiction key:**

Eradicons are the flying drones and Vehicons are the ground drones.

In brackets and quotes are ["comm links"]

A meta-cycle is a year.

An orbital cycle is a month.

A solar cycle is a day.

A cycle is an hour.

A breem is ten minutes_.  
_

A klik is one minute.

A nano-klik is less than a minute._  
_

* * *

Starscream stalked down the halls of the Nemesis, probably to meet his doom. He wasn't sure; he'd messed up bad this time, but Megatron always found him too useful to kill him. Whether it be sexually useful, or useful on the battlefield, or useful for his own sick violent entertainment, he had some use at the time that Megatron found too valuable to squash. But this time he'd caused the death of his medic's partner, as well as a very powerful and valuable officer, and Megatron will have no mercy. He might even kill him _accidentally_ this time. He debated flying away, but the Eradicons would be after him in a sparkbeat, and if he ran the Vehicons would give chase. Escaping in a shuttle wasn't an option as none were functional; he'd checked a while ago, after a particularly hard beating.

Starscream sighed as he sat in the hall and recalled the incident that will probably lead him to his doom.

* * *

It was on their last energon raid, this time Megatron had gone mad and decided that heading under the Earth into an occupied human mine to fetch the energon the humans had stumbled upon, "_kind enough to dig out for us_" as Megatron had put it, was a good, safe idea. That big moron had obviously took one too many hits to his processor in his gladiator days, because he also thought it would be fine and the Autobots wouldn't go after them as they decimated the mine, the ores the miners had took, and of course, the human organic miners. Starscream had of course warned him repeatedly that he was walking into a deathtrap, but he threw him into a wall, which caused the wall to crack and collapse a large heap of rocks, effectively blocking their exit, which of course was Starscream's fault. The delay gave the Autobots time to find them and ground bridge into the mine, and as Megatron was so sure that wouldn't happen, he forwent bringing any drones at all, so it was only Decepticon officers against the Autobot troops.

Prime was calling orders to his troops as he fought Megatron, who couldn't possibly care less about his own officers. Arcee and Bumblebee fought Starscream as Soundwave and Knockout went crazy on the wall, and the star of this flashback, Breakdown, challenged Bulkhead, his rival. Bulkhead and Breakdown were heatedly fighting far past the time that Soundwave and Knockout had gotten past the wall and started gathering all the energon they could, and as such, were still fighting when they retreated. Starscream had yelled orders at them, stayed long enough dodging the little yellow scout, the femme, and the Prime, and even went as far as firing on them both just to get them to break apart so Breakdown could retreat and fight another day, and perhaps Starscream would be saved a beating. None of it worked, and firing on them only seemed to piss off the airheaded ball of retarded iron they called Bulkhead, who turned to throw a wrecking ball at Starscream, throwing him into the same place as before, causing another fault line to collapse, this time burying Breakdown under a pile of rubble. Starscream retreated, and a party had been sent out to find Breakdown later, only to find his spark chamber devoid of any signs of life. He was permanently offline. That's when Megatron sent a violent, furious comm message to Starscream, blaming him for the death of Knockout's assistant and a "mech far more valuable to the cause than you will ever be", and to report to him in the bridge immediately. He started moving immediately, but he wasn't about to fly off, afterburners on full power, to meet his end.

* * *

"_Sulking,_ murderer?"

Starscream glanced up with little patience to see the face of Knockout, his pretty princess face burning with hate.

"Megatron demanded your presence more than a_ breem_ ago. He's going to slaughter _everyone_ on this_ ship_ if you're not there within a _nanoklik._"

"Oh, _excuse me_ for not wanting to race off to meet my death with open arms. Maybe I'll start my own army of Decepticons in the Pit, and when Megatron kills you out of his _madness_, I'll place you for housecleaning duty like a _filthy, faceless drone_."

That did it. Knockout was so furious his prod lit up like that Earth holiday Christmas, and he shook and creaked as half his joints and struts ached to race towards him and the other half held him back. "Go to Megatron before I stop your spark right here, _myself_."

Starscream gave him an "oh, I'm so scared" look before walking off down the hall to the bridge, where Megatron paced back and forth, livid and fuming.

"**_STARSCREAM_! Have you become so useless and incompetent that you forgot how to walk down a hall!? Did you get lost on the way to the bridge!?**"

When Starscream didn't answer, he backhanded him so hard the red spike on his head had flown across the room and embedded itself in a monitor screen, nearly having to go through Soundwave in the process. The wings on his back scraped so painfully on the floor he cried out as all the sensors ground against the metal beneath his weight.

"**Because of your incompetent foolishness in distracting that filthy Autobot from Breakdown's _personal battle_, he is now_ offline!_ I hope you are proud of yourself! Breakdown was powerful and merciless, not such a cowering fool as you are! What do you have to say for yourself, you putrid pit-spawned coward!?**"

The volume in Megatron's voice was causing everyone in the room to wince, and Starscream, being so close to him, was dazed before he could reply. "I-it was an _accident_, Master! I was trying to get him _away_ from the Autobots so he would not be offlined by_ all_ of them!"

Whatever he had said sent Megatron into an even worse fury, causing him to land blow upon blow on Starscream, beating him to an inch of his life, tearing off plating and armor until he barely looked anything like himself. Starscream looked up at his lord, his superior, barely conscious, eyes and expression begging for his life to be spared, only to see his leader with the most sickening grin you could see on any mech.

"Knockout...keep him awake."

The medic walked over and attached a device to his head, usually used for torture, that keeps the person in question online, but at the same energy levels; awake, but unable to fight back.

Megatron tore off Starscream's interface hatch and laughed as Starscream begged and cried for mercy. "I want to have that pretty little port once more before I offline you,_ traitor_..."

The room went silent as Megatron coaxed his own thick spike out and slammed himself home inside Starscream's dry port, causing the treasonous seeker to scream and beg for mercy, clawing weakly at the cold metal floor as his energon spilled from his wounds and Megatron's large spike tore through his most sensitive area, each thrust threatening to break Starscream's pelvis from the power of it. Thrust after thrust tore sensors and cables, searing pain emanating from his pelvis, Megatron's thick sharp claws tearing open his armor like a hot knife through butter, energon spilling and creating a pool underneath them as his claws tore at his thighs, his hips, his chest and back, the device Knockout had attached to him keeping him awake through all of it, long past when he would have offlined from the pain and torment. Finally, after four cycles of tearing and teasing and overloading, Megatron had finished with his toy, tossing him on the floor and leading his officers out for a meeting on who will replace the "_late_" Second in Command.

So this was it. This was the great Lord Starscream's final moments. Laying on the bridge room floor, publicly, spark and interface equipment showing (or what was left of it anyway), emergency power loss and offlining imminent warnings flashing desperately at him, in a pool of his own energon and his greatest enemy's transfluid. Perhaps it's not so bad, at least he got to see the tormented, horrified looks of the officer's last threads of trust to Megatron snapping before him as he was violated and viciously abused. Maybe that unicorn Knockout would overthrow him. It was Megatron's fault that Breakdown is dead, out of neglect and lack of care for any of his followers.

A light bathed Starscream as the bridge door slid open with a soft hiss. A single eradicon was standing there, staring at Starscream in horror and...pain? Why would a faceless drone be pained to see Starscream dying? Drones see others just like themselves offlined by at least a hundred every orbital cycle, sometimes every battle. What did Megatron do to Starscream to possibly set off a drone this way?


	2. Spark Like His

_So, chapter 1 was 1,666 words. That's kind of awesome. I really didn't notice when I'd uploaded it. It makes me happy. I've also received a huge response for the first chapter, and I'm going really well on this so I wrote another one today. Updates are sure to slow (let's face it, one chapter a day is a bit crazy) but I will keep updating until the story is finished._

**Fanfiction key:**

Eradicons are the flying drones and Vehicons are the ground drones.

In brackets and quotes are ["comm links"]

A meta-cycle is a year.

An orbital cycle is a month.

A solar cycle is a day.

A cycle is an hour.

A breem is ten minutes_.  
_

A klik is one minute.

A nano-klik is less than a minute.

* * *

Knockout clanked down the hall, too proud to drag his feet but too drained to walk with the usual elegance. He reached his quarters as soon as possible, dropped his prod on the floor and collapsed in his washracks, turning the water on to patter on his frame as he stared blankly into space. In one solar cycle, he'd managed to get himself absolutely filthy trying to tear down a wall of dirt and rock with the help of Soundwave, his best friend and partner had perished in the mission, he personally assisted his leader to rape another mech to death as a punishment for inadvertently and accidentally causing the death of his partner, and all faith and trust in his leader was snapped into pieces, if there even was any in the first place. This had been a long, torturous solar cycle and all he wanted to do was recharge, but all he could hear was first the roar of his best friend as the rocks collapsed and caved in on him, stopping his spark, and the pitiful cries and pleas for mercy from his commander as he was beaten, raped and tormented to death in front of him.

He got up to try and shake the horrid cries from his mind and finally get his finish as beautiful as it was when this horrible solar cycle started when Soundwave suddenly appeared beside him, just outside the spray of water, making him uncharacteristically jump, his engine stalling.

"What are you doing here!? Don't you know how to knock, Soundwave? What is it?"

Soundwave's face lit up with an image of Megatron, his speakers emanating their leader's voice. "Find Knockout, make sure he is mentally prepared and capable for tomorrow. We'll be doing another energon run and I need that bright red idiot functioning to repair everyone when we get back. If he's not prepared and capable, _make him._"

"HAS HE LOST HIS PROCESSOR _COMPLETELY?_"

The outburst seemed to shock Soundwave, as he ever so slightly leaned back, ready to defend himself as Knockout went pacing about in his washracks, shouting about how Megatron's dark energon intake had caused him to short-circuit and fry. "You would honestly have to be_ completely insane_ to think that after losing my only companion and assistant, I should be ready and completely mentally stable to work on a hundred wounded mechs, all solar cycle, with no rest, especially after what happened on the bridge. He has completely lost it. What does he want _yo_u to do anyway, _force_ me to be happy? Are you going to say _anything_ Soundwave? Do you even_ talk_?"

"Soundwave: now Second in Command. First assignment: prepare Knockout for medical bay duties. Most logical course of action: Therapy."

Knockout just stared at his -now commanding officer-, stuck between completely shutting down and...completely shutting down. All he could manage to stutter was "...therapy?"

Soundwave stepped in and proceeded to wash down Knockout, causing something in his head to spark, making him collapse. When he awoke his systems reported his finish was in perfect condition and he was laying on his birth only a cycle after his unexpected shutdown. He reluctantly opened his optics, only to see Soundwave with his back to him sitting on the foot of his berth, his face screen armor sitting beside him. Which meant his face was exposed, and...

"Soundwave, what are you doing here...?"

"Assignment: prepare Knockout for medical bay duties. Most-"

"Yes yes I realize that but...why didn't you just leave me in stasis until tomorrow?"

"Stasis: does not fix mental issues. Therapy: offers peace of mind, lack of distractions, increased concentration, a-"

"Turn around for me, Soundwave..."

Soundwave stood up and turned, and Knockout's spark stopped. His real face was simply the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen in all his solar cycles (aside from himself, of course.) From his soft pink eyes to the smooth contours of his face, and his extreme expressiveness; he was like an open datapad, everything he was feeling or thinking was written on his face, plain as day. It made sense now why he wore that creepy face mask, Intelligence officers always need the greatest poker face they can muster and if this was Soundwave's poker face...

"Knockout: functioning?"

Knockout slowly relaxed his cables, still stunned by the beauty of Soundwave's real face. Knockout blinked and look Soundwave properly in the optics. "I...yes, sorry...Soundwave, why are your optics pink...? I've never seen that before..."

The two mechs delved into a long conversation that lasted the entire night, about Knockout's despair upon losing his partner and best friend, his feelings about assisting Megatron violating Starscream, and his lack of trust or belief in Megatron at all. As it happens, Soundwave is forever loyal to Megatron, but their leader had turned into something other than the passionate, strong mech that he pledged himself to. Megatron had changed so much that Soundwave felt Megatron was not himself anymore, and thus, his oath of loyalty is not broken as Megatron isn't Megatron anymore, only a mad shell of what he used to be. Like when an Earth organic succumbs to the rabies virus, soon they lose their sense of self, their personality, and all that's left is fury. Knockout himself was not sure how to proceed, what with his only friend offline and his fellow traitor-in-not-so-secret offline as well. As it turns out, there may yet be a spark like his left in the world, and surely not who he expected, but with a face like that...

* * *

_I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter. I'll be working on the third chapter soon, which will have some action in it. Give me all your feels! Please review, it really helps me to update, even if it's just a "I really liked it please write more!" sort of review. I'll be rewatching TF:P season 1 on Netflix to try and nail down Knockout's character as I feel he's quite OOC. I'd like any input you may have on that too, if you have two cents to spare!  
_


	3. Not Just a Pretty Face

**Fanfiction key:**

Eradicons are the flying drones and Vehicons are the ground drones.

In brackets and quotes are ["comm links"]

A meta-cycle is a year.

An orbital cycle is a month.

A solar cycle is a day.

A cycle is an hour.

A breem is ten minutes_.  
_

A klik is one minute.

A nano-klik is less than a minute.

* * *

Knockout paced the halls of the Nemesis just outside of the bridge. For some odd reason their illustrious leader felt it wise to wake him up from recharge at 4 in the morning three solar cycles after his partner's offlining and not even one solar cycle after one of their largest and fiercest battles on Earth yet. Without Breakdown distracting the thick-helmed Autobot, they got their afts handed to them, even with 50 extra Eradicons and Vehicons to make up for it. He'd spent all night repairing the officers, and then the drones, and finally got to recharge when Megatron commed him for an "emergency", only to leave him pacing outside the bridge in the middle of the night for a breem and a half. Some emergency.

"Knockout. I require your assistance in my personal quarters,_ immediately_."

Something in the tone of his voice was...off, somehow. Wrong. It would do him more ill to make him wait, so off Knockout went to Megatron's personal quarters, a place no-one but Starscream had ever seen. Perhaps he had a personal medical issue. That must be it...

As he entered, Megatron grabbed him and threw him onto his large berth before locking the door with a sickening click, ringing through the air like the sharp sliding sound of a guillotine.

"With Starscream gone I have no..._output_ other than petty spars and target practice, and I grow tired of it, Knockout. I need another pretty, _helpless_ little _traitor_ to..._assist_ me. It has come to my attention that you had planned to overthrow me along with that buffoon _Starscream_, and with your _pathetic_ obsession with your own _paint job_, that makes you the next pretty traitor on my list."

Knockout's eyes grew wider with each word his leader spoke, frozen in fear as Megatron stalked towards him. He had few options; either he could endure whatever Megatron had in mind and escape later, he could comm for help although no Decepticon on base was likely to go against their leader to help him, he could pull out his saw or his prod and fight back but he was sure Megatron would easily overtake him. Stuck between choices, he was still frozen when Megatron gripped his throat, cutting off energon circulation to his brain, making him dizzy and confused, crying out as Megatron ripped the armor off his codpiece and interface hatch and jammed his fingers inside Knockout's still-sealed port.

"A _seal_? A 'virgin' as humans call it, _are we_ Knockout? No other mech_ good enough for you_?" Megatron laughed as he roughly jammed his fingers in and out of Knockout's sealed port, tearing him up already, just like Starscream. Perhaps this was karma for assisting Megatron do this very thing to Starscream...

Megatron pulled his spike out, thick, pointed at the tip and ridged, and jammed it down Knockout's throat, letting go of his neck in favor of a better position as he rammed himself in and out of Knockout's mouth. As the energon rushed to his head, at first it pooled and fell from his optics from the surge of emotion, feeling so pathetic and used and violated, and then as his head cleared, Knockout became angry,_ furious_. It was Megatron's fault that his partner had offlined, mad with power and uncaring about anything other than himself and his..._crusade!_ It was_ Megatron'_s fault their Second in Command was such an _afthole_, because he had been doing this very thing to him after every battle, and if Knockout was in Starscream's position, he would have been a royal afthole too. It was _Megatron_'s fault Soundwave always kept his pretty face hidden away, delegating such an intelligent, expressive mech to tech duty and Starscream to Second, and on top of it all, it was_ Megatron's fault_ that his paint job was now in just _deplorable_ condition, and his seal was broken!

With the new found anger and resolve, Knockout bit down hard on Megatron's spike, causing his leader to roar in pain and furiously beat Knockout as his spike dripped energon from the wounds caused by Knockout's denta. Knockout was beginning to go into stasis as his processor was rocked against his helm repeatedly, helpless to stop him as he couldn't focus enough to transform his hand into his saw.

* * *

Soundwave strolled down the halls of the Nemesis, silent as ever, through the halls of the officer's quarters. Unable to recharge, he often liked to walk down the halls, gathering information about any weaknesses in the Nemesis' hull that may prove an advantage for Autopilots, or perhaps to catch any conspiring or misbehaving officers or drones. He never reported half of what he heard during his late night walks, opting to store the information for latter blackmailing. A strange clang, clang, clang could be heard, and Soundwave quickened his pace, fearing to come upon a late night overcharged brawl as he often found...instead, the sound lead him to his Lord's personal quarters. A quick lifeform scan found Megatron furiously beating Knockout, Knockout on the brink of both stasis and possible offlining, as well as an energon leak emanating from Megatron and...signs of transfluid buildup? Soundwave knew Megatron had violated Starscream on numerous occasions as it was often himself to drag Starscream to his personal quarters or the sick bay afterwards, but did Megatron dare violate Knockout? Soundwave knew full well that Knockout was intact, and if that was the case...

Soundwave overrode the lock and stepped inside, creating a false Autobot life signal report onboard the Nemesis to distract his Lord from his current activities only to be shot in the facemask and thrown into a wall.

"How _dare you_ disturb me, Soundwave! In my own_ personal quarters_! Have you become a traitor as well!? I have always suspected you of this...! Always beware the _quiet ones_!"

* * *

Knockout had been regaining focus when Megatron left him only to turn and fire at something in the distance. His vision was blurry, but whatever it was was tall and purple, maybe a drone, he wasn't sure. The next words he heard shocked him._ Soundwave_ was here? And Megatron thought his most loyal follower of _any_ of them was a _traitor_? He'd finally gone completely mad with power, paranoid and dangerous. If he thought Knockout and Soundwave were traitors, who knows what he thought of the rest of his army.

Soundwave's face mask was in terrible condition, sparking and broken into pieces. The purple mech flew at Megatron with blinding speed and started sparring him hand-to-hand, shocking both Knockout and Megatron into silence, only the clang of fists meeting those strange knife-like arms filling the air. Soundwave attacked his Lord and Master, the one he'd sworn a _life oath_ of _loyalty_ to. A barrage of missiles hit Megatron, two to the helm and two to each side next to the small of his back. Soundwave knew everyone's weakness, fighting style, their entire physiology; it was no surprise that Soundwave won the fight against Megatron in less than a click. Megatron fell with a harsh clang to the floor, paralyzed, and Soundwave's tendrils whipped out of his back, attaching to his head and forcing Megatron's spark chamber to open. Megatron's spark slammed inside his chest, a sickly purple from the Blood of Unicron, as Megatron's speech functions were restored.

"Soundwave! You swore an oath to me, bound by your spark to be forever loyal to me! If you betray me this way I will make sure you burn in the pit for it!"

"Oath: unbroken. Megatron: infected and _plagued._"

"Are you saying I am no longer myself!? You are the one who is plagued! You have gone mad! **DRONES! REPORT TO MY PERSONAL QUARTERS IMMEDIATELY! SOUNDWAVE HAS LOST HIS MIND AND HAS BETRAYED-**"

Megatron's command for assistance was cut off with a roar as Soundwave's tendrils slammed into Megatron's spark chamber and crushed his spark. Soundwave had said something to Megatron, causing all rage to drain from his face, a glimmer of fear sparking in his optics as his life force drained from his chest in a harsh explosion sending all around the two flying into the wall. Knockout couldn't quite hear what it was, but he could hear his name being spoken in Soundwave's monotonous tone before his head slammed into the wall and he was forced into stasis.

* * *

_Review please, give me all of your feels! If anyone is OOC, or you have your own two cents to add, please tell me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!_

_(And a shoutout to Taboo22 for reviewing the last chapter an hour or so after I posted it. Thanks for reading it so fast and reviewing so promptly, here's another chapter to read!)  
_


	4. Screaming to the Stars

_Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews, and follows, and favourites. Makes me smile every time I see a new one. I was stuck on what to do next as I had s__e_v_e_ral paths to choos_e_ from, but Kangaroon_e_y's r_e_vi_e_w h_e_lp_e_d m_e_ d_e_cid_e_. H_e_r_e_ you go _e_v_e_ryon_e. enjoy!_

**Fanfiction key:**

Eradicons are the flying drones and Vehicons are the ground drones.

Sires are fathers and Creators are mothers (at least the equivalent of)

In brackets and quotes are ["comm links"]

A meta-cycle is a year.

An orbital cycle is a month.

A solar cycle is a day.

A cycle is an hour.

A breem is ten minutes_.  
_

A klik is one minute.

A nano-klik is less than a minute.

* * *

He couldn't believe it. All he was doing was walking back into the bridge before going to recharge because he'd left an important datapad report at his monitor, and there he was. That perfect, flawless being he nearly worshiped was laying on the ground in a pool of his own energon. That sickening "lord and master" had finally snapped and tried to kill him. The eradicon rushed to him and immediately called in some more of his fellow drones to help him get Starscream to an escape pod. His spark broke as he held Starscream's broken, mangled body, and lubricant started flowing from his optics. He couldn't help himself. He'd always dreamed of having Starscream in his arms, but not like this. He felt as if he should be shot for even touching this beautiful, perfect being, but he told himself it's for Starscream's own good, just like the other times when Starscream hit him or kicked him to the floor. If Starscream turned out fine, he would take a thousand beatings.

They arrived at the lower deck with the broken-down escape pods and the eradicon loaded him inside the medical pod and laid him on the berth contained within. The drone that often assisted Knockout was inside already and immediately began stabilizing Starscream's spark as the eradicon jumped into the pilot seat and started the engine. He heard a gurgling noise, followed by choking, but it quickly stopped, and the eradicon didn't dare turn around, else the lubricant would flow so much he wouldn't be able to see. He trusted the vehicon behind him to fix Starscream to the best of his ability.

As about 5 escape pods started firing out of the loading bay and flying off across the desert floor they were flying over, the eradicon carefully took off as well, flying as straight and fluidly as possible in order to not jolt the vital passenger in the back. As he watched the other pods perform simple acrobatics, corkscrews and barrel rolls, he couldn't help but smile a little on the inside. They were so happy to finally be away from that warlord and his tyranny. He hoped that Starscream would be happy they took him away, too. He couldn't take it if Starscream wanted to go back to that...sparkless thing that ruled the Decepticons in Starscream's rightful place.

It hurt him each and every time Megatron had beat him to his last breath, but he survived, and that's all that mattered. He'd been planning for ages to free Starscream, their true Lord, and all the eradicons and vehicons were in on it. They'd lost trust and hope in Megatron more and more every time he stood idly by while the Autobots slaughtered the troops he expected such loyalty from. Why be loyal and respectful when Megatron had blatantly stayed just to let the Autobots slaughter his soldiers and only then leave, on multiple occasions? It wasn't hard to convince the troops to plot against Megatron, but it was difficult to get them to follow Starscream. They all wanted to follow Knockout, the medic that spent all his waking hours healing them and saving their lives. The deciding argument had been that even Knockout would rather follow Starscream; he plotted against Megatron with him, after all. But Steve always knew. He was with Starscream since before Megatron turned evil, when Megatron still loved Starscream...when Megatron had a spark to love with at all. Starscream was always a good-sparked mech, his only major flaw being his cowardliness and his tendency to plot against people to get what he wanted. He'd overheard him confiding into Megatron about it, long ago...Starscream felt the need to plot against people because in order to get his energon rations or even to have the "privilege" of recharging, he'd have to plot and scheme against his Sire. His Creator had always loved him, but she died during the process of transferring his spark from hers to his protoform mold. His Sire blamed him for everything, and deprived him of things necessary to function, like energon and recharge, and eventually he was arrested for his neglect when Starscream collapsed in class one day. His Sire had refused him the necessary upgrade from Adolescent to Young Adult, and his spark grew too large for it's casing, causing it to falter and fail in the middle of a lecture. He was taken care of in an emergency sickbay and when asked why hadn't been upgraded yet, Starscream saw his chance and told them everything. As a Young Adult he was able to skip foster and go straight to being dormmates with a mech called Skyblaze or something. So every time Megatron beat him, refused him energon, or forced him away from his recharge berth on long missions or on long monitor duty shifts as "punishment", it was his Sire's abuse as a sparkling all over again. History, doomed to repeat itself. No wonder he was such an afthole on a regular basis; he had nothing left to live for except himself, or so he thought.

* * *

**6 Orbital Cycles Later**

* * *

"Steve, come quickly, he's coming out of stasis!"

Steve ran as fast as he could, weaving between the 15 odd shuttles set in rows like little homes for the growing number of renegade drones that had fled down to the underground hideout in New Mexico. First 5 left, and then 10 more followed a few cycles later, from drones that changed their minds and felt Megatron's tyranny too spark-crushing to endure any longer. Starscream was in a shuttle they had painted a big purple cross on to indicate it as the medbay shuttle (they had no other colour paint) and their precious Lord had been in stasis for half an earth year now. They had been stealing parts or salvaging them from drones left dead and abandoned after a battle between Decepticon and Autobot, slowly having to rebuild their Master from drone parts. It broke Steve's spark to have to put such low-grade parts in their dear Lord, but when their Lord was awake and functioning properly he would know what to do to acquire the proper parts for a mech of his status.

"Where am I...? what have you idiot drones done!?"

Steve ran up the ramp into the shuttle and froze, his spark beating wildly. His obsession was standing again, well enough to be yelling at the drones again.  
"Sir! We have rescued you from Megatron's fury, after he nearly killed you we took you and flew you away and-"

Starscream backhanded Steve hard across the face. "Rescued!? I do not call this rescue! My system scan is telling me not only am I full of DRONE PARTS, but I have been in STASIS LOCK for 6 ORBITAL CYCLES and I am in NEW MEXICO. Do you glitched motorbrains have any idea what Megatron will do to me when he sees me full of factory line drone parts after being missing and out of service for 6 orbital cycles!?" Starscream's voice grew higher and higher in pitch as he went on, and finally seeing his chance, Steve spoke up again.

"Sir, we have received reports from the Nemesis that Megatron is not only offline, but Soundwave is now leading the Decepticon uprising!"

Now he was _furious._

"SOUNDWAVE is leading the Decepticons!? THAT'S WORSE! That psychotic sparkless idiot is probably keeping tabs on us, waiting for me to wake up only to blow this place to bits and..._me with it!_ Not to mention that is MY RIGHTFUL PLACE! I, _Almighty Lord Starscream_, will storm upon the Nemesis and take my place from Soundwave, _even if it kills him_!"**  
**

Starscream slumped to his knees, a hand on his abdomen. "As soon as I get my uh...motor functions back..."

"Good to have you back sir!"

"Oh, _shut up_..."

* * *

_As of now, I am also searching for a beta-reader to check grammar, spelling, etc. I usually write at nighttime because it's too loud in the day to concentrate, or alternatively, to even proofread my own fics. So if anyone would like to, please message me._


	5. A Drop Compared to an Ocean

_This takes place the same time Starscream wakes up, roughly. About 6 months later and all that.**  
**_

**Fanfiction key:**

Eradicons are the flying drones and Vehicons are the ground drones.

Transfluid is the mech equivalent of semen, Lubricant is used as tears here.

In brackets and quotes are ["comm links"]

A meta-cycle is a year.

An orbital cycle is a month.

A solar cycle is a day.

A cycle is an hour.

A breem is ten minutes_.  
_

A klik is one minute.

A nano-klik is less than a minute.

* * *

Primus-be-damned medics...they always know exactly where to hit you to make your circuits light up like you were set on fire...

"What are you thinking, Soundwave? mm?"  
"Query: while knowing the location of weaknesses is logical, why know the location of-" Soundwave's monotonous voice was cut off with a static-laced moan as Knockout gripped the spines on his head, forcing him to his knees in the middle of the hall. The two had been a little overcharged and far too aroused to even make it to the medbay or either of their personal quarters.

Knockout slid his interface panel open, his spike pressurizing, running along Soundwave's smooth, cold facemask, smearing it with pre before using his grip on the spines on his head to hold him still as he thrust and ground against Soundwave's facemask, a move they both found erotic and arousing. The action teased Soundwave relentlessly, having his mate's spike grinding against his face, yet completely unable to taste it or feel the heat rubbing against his cheek or the wetness of the copious amounts of fluids leaking from Knockout's spike.

"Actions: inappropriate for public setting. Suggestion: retreat to private quarters."

Despite the monotonous tone, Soundwave's voice still managed to sound desperate, laced with static, his frame shaking, cooling fans on high as his metal plating burned from his own arousal.

"If you want to go to our quarters to continue...you'll have to make me."

Knowing full well what that meant, Soundwave's tendrils shot out from his back, two grabbing Knockout's arms, one around his waist, and a fourth burying itself in Knockout's exposed port, causing him to cry out, the cry echoing down the hall, attracting two eradicons to round the corner. Soundwave gave them a look, staring at them with his screen covered in pre, eerily silent, absent-mindedly thrusting a tendril in and out of his mate, the only sounds in the hall being the delicious wet sounds of Knockout's port getting fragged and his moans and cries of pleasure. The drones got uncomfortable upon seeing their Lord and Commander in such...private matters, and ran off, leaving the hall free for Soundwave to retreat to their personal quarters.

They had taken Megatron's quarters as they were meant for the Lord to reside in, and they were also fit for two - of course, they threw all of his old furniture and things away, replacing them with Soundwave's ancient record collection and Knockout's various car models and magazines. He claimed to read them for the articles, but his temperature always went up exactly 10.3 degrees, as Soundwave noticed. Pervert.

Soundwave walked in, carrying his mate and laying him on the birth, still driving him higher and higher, flooding his systems with pleasure with the tendril in his port, ceasing completely just before Knockout overloaded, grinning under the mask as Knockout cussed him out under his breath. He took off his mask, laying it on the berthside table, releasing his mate but keeping that one tendril buried inside, enjoying his mate's sensitive port clenching and squeezing down on it.

"You fragging scrapheap I'll send you to the pit myself if you don't make me overload...!"

Soundwave grinned, making Knockout's spark skip a beat, before he looked his mate up and down, and his grin faltered and faded.

"Sound...Soundwave, what is it?" Knockout looked himself over, not seeing anything out of order besides the amount of fluids he was leaking, which was the norm for Knockout. "You know I wasn't serious, right?"

"Knockout: precious to Soundwave. Que-...Plead: B-..."

Soundwave seemed to change from a question to begging, but stopped short before saying what it was he wanted so desperately from Knockout.

"Soundwave, if you're having trouble vocalizing what you're feeling, you can always connect and tell me that way..."

The slim purple mech nodded and retracted the tendril, dripping with transfluid, before attaching it to a small port just above Knockout's spark chamber, flooding him with his thoughts and emotions, of his nervousness, not wanting Knockout to back away, worry that he's moving too fast, and above all, his complete love and devotion for the gorgeous, snarky red mech.

"Soundwave...what are you so nervous to tell me?"

"Plead: Sparkbond to Soundwave?"

Soundwave didn't even need all his sensors or the connection to Knockout to hear his spark skip a beat before beating hard and fast, Knockout's expression shocked and stunned. Soundwave felt exactly how stunned he was through the connection, as well as the small glimmer of happiness that erupted into pure joy and bliss as Knockout organized his thoughts to formulate an answer, opening his mouth to speak as lubricant streamed down his face.

Small slender fingers touched themselves to Knockout's lips, silencing him as Soundwave disconnected himself, lubricant streaming down his own beautiful, smooth face from those gorgeous pink optics. He knew Knockout's answer. He felt it. Laserbeak departed from his chest, resting on the sofa behind them as Soundwave's chest panels parted, first revealing his spark chamber, before it parted as well, almost blinding Knockout with the fierce glow of it. It was clear to Knockout now that Soundwave's optics' pink glow came from his brilliant pink spark, as well as the glowing lines across his frame. His spark chamber was thick and sturdy and yet that fierce bright glow shined through it, illuminating his body and his optics. It was nothing short of mesmerizing.

After staring at Soundwave's spark for a short while in awe, Knockout parted his own chest plates, revealing his spark, a bright, gorgeous red colour, like nothing Soundwave had ever seen before. Knockout's spark beat hard and fast, larger than most sparks, which explained his need to race to expel the energy it created, as well as his...libido.

"Sound...Soundwave, it's so beautiful, I can't..."

Soundwave laughed, stunning poor Knockout further. His vocalizer, although damaged, still retained the ability to laugh apparently - and what a sound it was. It wasn't the first time Knockout heard Soundwave laugh, but this laugh was different, it was...so full of joy, and bliss, it was sparkbreaking to hear, and it brought more lubricant to Knockout's eyes.

Knockout wrapped his arms around his mate's neck, pulling him down, kissing him deeply, urgently, their sparks tentatively sending arcs of electricity over to each other, and then joining together, one melding into the other, growing in size, becoming a hot pink as they combined, creating the bond that would tie the two to each other until they both died.

Both of the mechs saw into each others' mind, into their spark, their thoughts, every part of them one, and in that moment they knew every secret the other had ever had, all about their sparkling phase, their creators and sires, their every want and desire, and in there, they saw the pure love they had for one another, how beautiful they thought the other looked, and as they gazed into each others optics in the blinding light of their sparks combining they knew they had made the right choice. They knew that they could never have spent a single moment longer without being truly together as they were now, they knew that the love that they felt before the bond was like a drop of water compared to an ocean. No one mech had ever felt joy like two combined into one, two who's sparks had always been one, they just didn't know it yet.

* * *

"Soundwave...?"

Soundwave emitted a sort of staticy hum in place of his usual monotonous reply, too exhausted to respond properly.

"What's my name..?"

Soundwave sat up and stared at his mate in concern and partial horror before he felt the amusement and elation over the bond, as a wide smirk spread over his face.  
He tried his best to look angry, but only managed to make an apparently hilarious pout, as Knockout burst into laughter and wrapped his arms around his mate, squeezing Soundwave to him.

"My love, I'm sure you can feel it, but I'm so happy it's hard to breathe. I always thought bonding was silly, but I'm willing to try anything if it involves you."

"Reassurance: Anything?"

"Yes, anything."

Soundwave grinned wide at his mate, amusement and the same elation shining in his optics. Knockout's smirk faded, although he felt no less blissful.

"You're going to hold me to that, aren't you?"

"Affirmative."

"Scrap."


	6. A Stone's Throw

**Fanfiction key:**

Eradicons are the flying drones and Vehicons are the ground drones.

Sires are fathers and Creators are mothers (at least the equivalent of)

In brackets and quotes are ["comm links"]

A meta-cycle is a year.

An orbital cycle is a month.

A solar cycle is a day.

A cycle is an hour.

A breem is ten minutes_.  
_

A klik is one minute.

A nano-klik is less than a minute.

* * *

"Primus damn it, I said _no_, Soundwave!"

Knockout's worries about the mission were well founded. He suspected Soundwave had sparked and had kept him off active duty until they could be sure, but the Nemesis picked up life signs from just over some place in Arizona, and looking into the local human news, there had been reports of purple cars roaming the streets and the sound of jet engines - what the humans thought were secret military experiments, Soundwave knew were the escaped vehicons and eradicons. Why they left is no secret nor a surprise, but the drones were well cared for under Soundwave's reign. He believed them to be emotionless, faceless and disposable, but Knockout convinced him otherwise. As the chief medic, he works closely with the drones, and knows very many of them by name - Breakdown had been friends with a few, in fact, and had gotten punished by Megatron for "fraternizing with the soldiers." Under he-who-shall-not-be-named's rule, at least a hundred of them perished each battle, but with Soundwave, he had invested in better armor and field medical training, and now only one or two die every Earth month, which is impressive considering who they are fighting. That being said, he knew the escapees had no idea that they would be much better off on the Nemesis again - upgraded armor, training and care put aside, the drones were given more freedom and more fuel as well. It's undoubtable that the escapees had to be malnourished and undercared for.

"They really are good mechs, Soundwave, once you get under the terrorized exterior they put on around the officers. It's a shame so many die every battle." Knockout's own voice coming from Soundwave's recording system seemed to send him into a bigger fury, shouting incoherently about the possibility of being sparked and the dangers it held for both the possible sparkling, Soundwave himself, and the entire army should he perish or be put out of commission for a while.  
Soundwave replayed another recording he had of Knockout - "My love, don't worry about me. I'll always be fine as long as you're there." What was meant to calm him down just threw him flying into another fit. Soundwave sent reassurance and love over the bond, but it was like trying to knock over a brick wall by throwing bags of feathers at it. He was still furious. He sunk into his throne quietly, deciding to let Knockout vent, and put in a course for the coordinates he'd received from the Nemesis' main computer. He'd rescue the drones with or without Knockout, and he knew that Knockout would choose to be beside him the whole time if given no other option. Knockout looked at the main monitor and read the coordinates they were headed to, finally calm, and glared holes in Soundwave's head. "That's the way it's going to be, is it?"

* * *

He loved him. There was no other way to describe it, even though he felt like "love" wasn't enough. Watching him streak across the sky so gracefully, sun glinting off his wings and his empty cockpit, afterburners roasting the air as he cut through it like a knife. It was more beautiful to watch him at night, but the chance rarely arose as during nighttime humans would come by to try and see what they thought were "government experiments." They had no choice but to let him out during the day, because as much as they tried keeping a low profile, Starscream would go insane locked in the caves for so long, without a sky above him or clean air on his wings. He tried so hard to keep him safely below the surface, comforting him when he broke down, defending him against the drones that wanted him out (he was a big red target for Soundwave, they knew that, but Steve wouldn't have it), but he just couldn't take seeing him like that any longer. And after what was possibly the longest and most graceful flight he had ever seen the seeker perform, he still managed to make the night better by fragging him in the dirt, and_ hard_ as soon as his pedes touched the earth. Starscream went on to explain that the cherishing and care that Steve gave him during his "imprisonment" as he put it had activated his deeper seeker protocols; seekers were meant to be revered and worshiped, not stepped on and beaten, and the rush of the protocols hitting him as he unwound in the air had also aroused him to mate with the one who cared for him the most. His programming had chosen Steve for his complete devotion to Starscream. It was exactly the best thing that had ever happened to Steve. They were inseparable - he spent all his cycles in Starscream's joyful company. With Megatron gone, and Starscream in charge ( of at least of a small part of the army,) he unwound, and healed, and he felt _good_, for once in his miserable life. He often had recharge terrors about Megatron returning and offlining both himself and Steve, but that just gave Steve a reason to "_distract_" him. He adored him beyond words, and he was planning to ask him to bond tonight, if he had enough courage.

Starscream tore through the air towards the ground and transformed as he landed, a terrified look in his optics, breaking Steve out of his train of thought. "Commander? What's wrong?"

"Can't you hear that!?"

Starscream looked beyond terrified, like he'd just seen Megatron's ghost. Steve turned his audios higher, as high as they could go, and he faintly heard the sound the Nemesis's engine in the distance. They were at least an entire cycle away, and that gave them time to prepare.

"We have to get below, and hide! If Soundwave is here for you, we have to get you down there or he could kill us both!"

He wasn't sure what was worse, the way Starscream looked at him, as if something had clicked inside him and his world had fallen apart, or the fact that Starscream just tore off_ towards_ the Nemesis. _Damn_ it.

* * *

**1 Earth Cycle Later**

* * *

Rock and dirt. That's all that was here. Lots of rocks and dirt. Maybe a lizard or two, tiny things, or those annoying squawking flying things that pick at the meat sacks on the ground (what a strange planet), but otherwise, a whole load of nothing for miles. A stone's throw away from being in the brig. This is what Soundwave was so eager to see? So eager to possibly sacrifice himself to see? Gee. Sure picked the right mech.

Soundwave's hurt stretched across the bond before he smothered it to attempt to hide it from Knockout, but it was too late. He knew Soundwave was doing his hardest to be a good leader - everything Megatron wasn't - and he really was doing a good job. All he went out here for was the drones that had escaped. It was really a rescue mission - he knew the drones had to be in bad condition, but what good is a rescue mission if the one doing the rescuing is in vulnerable shape?

Soundwave's hurt eased a little upon hearing that Knockout understood, and he reached out to grasp Knockout's hand - a thing he observed the humans do. It was nice, so simple but still somehow comforting. Humans can be smart creatures if they really give it their all.

The sound of a familiar, screeching jet engine hit their audios. That is to say, _a screaming one_. Both Knockout and Soundwave were frozen in place. They both saw Starscream offline on the bridge floor. There is no way he could have survived that, his energon was _everywhere_. Soundwave sent Laserbeak up to get a look, and he reported back that he has visual of both Starscream and a Vehicon hot on his tail. Both their engines were burning up, like they'd been going as fast as possible for an entire cycle, and they were_ covered_ in red dirt. "Report: Starscream and a Vehicon drone heading Southwest at top speed."

A vehicon with the designation DUK3 ran towards them and looked ahead. With his visor he could see one of his brother Vehicons indeed chasing Starscream. "Sirs, isn't Starscream offline?"

One of the vehicons behind them said "maybe it's Steve?" and that caused an uproar in the squadron, and DUK3 went to go calm them all down just as Starscream came into view and began firing down on them, hitting DUK3 right in the back and Soundwave straight in the chest. Fragger had good aim now all of a sudden?

Knockout went to fire at Starscream and was tackled by the Vehicon, who put up no fight, but did his best to restrain Knockout - a strange move considering Knockout was several times more powerful than the Vehicon could hope to be.

"What is your designation and what do you think you are doing to me!?"

"My designation is Steve sir, and if you're going to try and hurt Starscream I'm afraid you're going to have to offline me first!"

Starscream's fire rained down so fast and hard on Knockout it was blinding. He must have heard the Vehicon and took a defensive turn - but what could the vehicon possibly have said to set Starscream off like that?

Knockout managed to avoid most of the fire, but his spear was knocked out of his hand. Soundwave dove to pick it up and shocked Starscream so hard with it he immediately took a nosedive and crumpled into the Earth as if he were made of paper. The vehicon became so enraged he shrieked and jumped on Soundwave, beating him senseless, cracking and breaking both his own servo and Soundwave's visor before the Decepticon lord overcame the shock and threw him off.

A legion of escapee vehicons and eradicons came barreling towards them, and Steve grabbed the spear from Soundwave before he could use it and slammed it so hard into him that it snapped it in half, sending an arc of electricity into every mech within a mile radius, knocking all of them offline.

Upon onlining, Knockout immediately scanned Soundwave's spark chamber - it was weak, but it was there. Two life signs. The shock gave him the last bit of energy needed to spark. Lubricant began pooling and streaming down Knockout's face. He felt over the bond that Soundwave had no pain, and was fine other than a broken visor and light armor damage to his chest.

The sight of Knockout openly sobbing over Soundwave stopped every other mech in his tracks, including the terrified and infuriated Starscream, who was currently being checked over by Steve. "Leave me alone Steve, I'm _fine_!" Starscream batted his love's scanning hands away in favor of watching the spectacle before him. Steve looked up at his beloved and followed his gaze to Knockout and Soundwave. "Officer Knockout, sir, do you require assistance?"

Starscream gaped and scoffed at the idea of Steve helping the self centered medic fix the sparkless "lord" of the 'cons. Knockout glared at Starscream and shook his head. "No, I can feel over the bond that he's fine. I'm just stunned. That shock you gave him had given the last bit of energy his systems needed to spark."

Wait - bond? _spark_?

"You're bonded to Lord Soundwave, sir?"

"You said your designation was Steve, correct? Are you the leader of the escaped drones?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then _you need_ to get them to the Nemesis for repairs, upgrades and training. Follow DUK3 - he'll show you where we've er,_ parked_ the Nemesis. If you can bring Starscream along _calmly_ I'd be glad to repair him myself, as long as he doesn't flip out and_ shoot anyone_. I'm sure we can solve the whole 'who rules the Decepticons' issue when everyone is repaired."

"Uh-sir, yes sir!" Steve lead his drone team to follow DUK3 and helped Starscream to his pedes. His cockpit was crumpled and broken and the nose of his altmode was a pancake, which dug into his robot mode abdomen, but otherwise he could make the trip to the Nemesis on foot. So much for the whole 'ask him to bond tonight' thing, but at least he was safe and only in_ minor_ disrepair.

* * *

This might be the last update for a little while because of the holidays. There might be one more, I'm not sure. Merry Christmas of 2012, everyone! I'm sure updates will resume after Christmas because I'm 90% sure my mother got me the Vehicon toy, which I'm sure will inspire me to write some more.


End file.
